Tuscany post Cruise

[skyboy]

We would like to go to Tuscany from Venice after our cruise. What is the best way to do this? Should we take trains or rent a car? We would like to go to the areas in and around San Gimignano and Siena. Which airport should we fly to London from after our stay in Tuscany? Any help about this region would be appreciated.

[ab0si]

There is no train service to San Gimignano and service to Siena is not great (also, the train station is outside the walls). If it were me, I'd drive.

 

Paul

[Italian cruise man]

From September 17th 2006 train services between Florence and Siena is one of the better...One train every hour that takes you to Siena in 1hour 20minutes...

 

And there are several trains from Venice to Florence, 3 hours! Yes, San Giminiano hasn't a railway station and like the beautiful Volterra the best way to reach these cities is by car or bus..

 

I suggest you to reach Florence by train then rent a car or use public transport:) :)

 

Sorry for my english..

[skyboy]

Thanks for your responses. Now we are thinking of doing the cruise's shore excursion to San Gimignano and Volterra as we have been to Florence. And then post cruise doing Lake Como and the surrounding area for 3 days. Has anyone taken that shore excursion and would recommend it? Has anyone been to the Lakes area? We are thinking of renting a car in Venice and driving there and then flying out of Milan. Does that sound like the way to go.

[ab0si]

From September 17th 2006 train services between Florence and Siena is one of the better...One train every hour that takes you to Siena in 1hour 20minutes...

 

And there are several trains from Venice to Florence, 3 hours! Yes, San Giminiano hasn't a railway station and like the beautiful Volterra the best way to reach these cities is by car or bus..

 

I suggest you to reach Florence by train then rent a car or use public transport:) :)

 

Sorry for my english..

 

Your English is excellent. Thank you for the correction. If I understand you corectly, the rail service from Florence to Siena has greatly improved. That is good news!

 

Paul

[ab0si]

Thanks for your responses. Now we are thinking of doing the cruise's shore excursion to San Gimignano and Volterra as we have been to Florence. And then post cruise doing Lake Como and the surrounding area for 3 days. Has anyone taken that shore excursion and would recommend it? Has anyone been to the Lakes area? We are thinking of renting a car in Venice and driving there and then flying out of Milan. Does that sound like the way to go.

 

I have mixed comments on San Gimignano. It is a lovely place, BUT it is small and when the tour buses arrive it feels like a cattle stampede on a Tokyo subway during rush hour. After the tourists leave, it is wonderful

 

I have spent quite a bit of time at the Lakes. My favoirte is Garda (near Verona) and my wife prefers Strsa on Lake Maggiore. Como is in-between the two. :) The lakes are quite lovely. Malpensa, the Milan International Airport is almost half way from the city of Milan to Como -- so the transfer to the airport is only about 1 hour from the city of Como .. obviously longer from other parts of the lake. Not having to drive thorugh Milano is worth quite a bit in terms of sanity. :)

 

If you want to do something other than the Como on your way to Malpensa, there are all sorts of wonderful towns. Take your pick -- what are you intersted in?

 

Paul

[Italian cruise man]

Thanks for your responses. Now we are thinking of doing the cruise's shore excursion to San Gimignano and Volterra as we have been to Florence. And then post cruise doing Lake Como and the surrounding area for 3 days. Has anyone taken that shore excursion and would recommend it? Has anyone been to the Lakes area? We are thinking of renting a car in Venice and driving there and then flying out of Milan. Does that sound like the way to go.

 

About Lakes area...yes, very beautiful! Garda Lake, Maggiore Lake and Como lake...If you want to go to Garda lake, rent a car! Instead, Maggiore Lake is really accessible by train and Como lake, too! Drive in working day between Venice and Milan can be very difficult, lot of traffic!! And in the last 50 km they are doing many works on your way!! So from Venice to Milan by car you'll take at minimum 4h, by Eurostar trains it takes 2hours and 45m!

 

abOsi: Yes, i link you this PDF...it's write in italian but i think you can understand the timetable:

http://www.trenitalia.com/Allegati/memorario_linee.pdf

 

Ciao:)

[skyboy]

Thanks so much for your responses. If we took the train to Lake Como, should we rent a car from there to get around or use public transportation. In response to what we are interested in, just beautiful scenery, some mountains and quaint towns. Glad to hear the airport is north of Milan so we don't have to go into the city. Any suggestions of places to stay? Should we use one place as a base? We have 3 days not counting the day we get off the cruise. Thanks

[notmartha]

Thanks for your responses. Now we are thinking of doing the cruise's shore excursion to San Gimignano and Volterra as we have been to Florence. And then post cruise doing Lake Como and the surrounding area for 3 days. Has anyone taken that shore excursion and would recommend it? Has anyone been to the Lakes area? We are thinking of renting a car in Venice and driving there and then flying out of Milan. Does that sound like the way to go.

 

I think depends on how much time you would like to spend at the towns - enough to get a feeling, or more in depth?

 

We did a San G. & Siena tour. All told, I think it's really about 3.5 hours at the 2 towns, with an 1.5 hour lunch. The rest was transportation time.

 

Don't know if your cruise begins/ends in Venice or Rome. Lake Garda is only about 1.5 hours drive from Venice, I think. Como is further out. We visited Sirimione at Garda last year. Lovely place but also overwhelmed with tourists (and the streets are much narrower than at San G.) Also could have sweared that our Florence hotel last year has organized tours into Sierra and other towns.

[travelingmcmahans]

We recently spent a week in Tuscany (coming via Venice) and I can't imagine doing it wthout a car. Re picking up a rental car in Florence -- we drove there (quite by accident) and I don't really recommend it especially if you've not driven in Italy before. The car rental in Venice is convenient to the autoway and it's an easy drive to Tuscany.

You'll love Tuscany :)

[skyboy]

We keep going back and forth between Tuscany and the Lakes area for 3 days post cruise from Venice. Any recommendations? Today we are again leaning more towards Tuscany. If we go to Tuscany, where should we stay? Should we stay in one place and take drives from there? Where should we fly out from to go to London, Florence or the airport in Tuscany? Thanks for your responses.

[travelingmcmahans]

We keep going back and forth between Tuscany and the Lakes area for 3 days post cruise from Venice. Any recommendations? Today we are again leaning more towards Tuscany. If we go to Tuscany, where should we stay? Should we stay in one place and take drives from there? Where should we fly out from to go to London, Florence or the airport in Tuscany? Thanks for your responses.

 

That's a tough choice. Both areas are beautiful in different ways. We've been to both, each time following time in Venice. The lakes present more of a logistical challenge in terms of gettign around. We visited in OCtober a couple years ago and found the ferry schedules made it dificult to do as much sightseeing as we wished and the alternative was to drive *all* the way around a lake to get somewhere else. Still, it was amazingly beautiful.

 

Tuscany holds much more than you could enjoy in 3 days so I'd suggest choosing one village and basing there. There are many places you can drive in a day. If you're interested in wine, Tuscany is a wonderful place - not to mention if you love food. It's also quicker to get to from Venice, which may be a consideration since you have only 3 days.

 

Good luck - you'll love whichever you do!

 

Re the airport, I'm not aware of any airport in Tuscany other than Florence (though Pisa, nearby, has one). I'm sure there are a number of low-cost air carriers to get you from there to London, just watch your luggage weight.

[skyboy]

Thanks, we have decided to go to Tuscany this year and do the lakes another year. Do you have any suggestions as to where we should base ourselves or where to stay?

[travelingmcmahans]

If you have a car you could really base yourselves anywhere. Just be aware that parking in soem of the villages may be a challenge. We stayed in the Chianti countryside about 10 km outside of Florence in a villa and loved it - the only drawback being when we wanted to go eat in the village on Saturday night all the places were full and because we were in the country there weren't exactly a lot of options.

Sienna is a beatiful town with lot to see in and of itself, and it is close to some wonderful little towns such as Montalcino where you can taste Brunello and have some great food. I'd definitely recommend that as a good base.

I just don't think you can go wrong wherever you stay!

[skyboy]

Can anyone tell me about how long the drive is from Venice to San Gimignano. Thanks

[Hlitner]

I must agree with the posts that recommend renting a car to see Tuscany. We have driven throughout Italy (from the Swiss & France border to Sicily) and have never understood the popularity of trains. Much of the charm and beauty of Italy is found in the countryside and small villages that is not served by any train. Tuscany is a very large area (by European standards) and is one of our favorite regions on earth. As to the comments about San Gimigano, this is one of my wifes favorite towns, but we really feel the best time to visit is late in the afternoon and evenings after the area is rid of all the day tours. Walking though the nearly deserted streets late at night under the eerie street lights is a wonderful experience as we wonder about the folks who walked the same streets over 1000 years ago.

 

Hank

[Denverite]

We just returned from the Tuscany area (which we did pre-cruise). I highly recommend the following restaurant in San Gimignano: Trattoria Chiribiri. This is a very small restaurant that seats about 17 people. Try the beef with chianti sauce, minestone soup, pasta with wild boar. There is a 1.55 euro pp cover charge for the tablecloth. Our bill for 5 people was about 60 euros. I don't think you can go wrong with any of their specialities. We were there in November and practically had the whole town to ourselves--no tourists. It was wonderful at night--a bit on the chilly side but sunny during the day. We stayed in the Hotel Cistern within the city walls--an older hotel, inexpensive, but unbelievable views of the valley from the balconies and great views from the breakfast room. Personally I would not want to drive on the very tiny streets (we opted for a driver from Rome to take us throughout the Tuscany area), so my suggestion is if you are driving to stay somewhere outside the walls.

[Hlitner]

I had a few thoughts about the Lake Country. We have enjoyed both Como and Maggiore and tend to slightyly favor Maggiore and the area around Stresa. But Como is also a wonderful area, and the drive up to Bellagio is a lot of fun for those that like to live on the edge (literally). There are two routes from Como to Bellagio, and the picturesque road is the one that follows the lake. This particular road seems to be a lot more dangerous than the more famous Amalfi Drive, but it is quite rewarding with some great views and a few quaint cafes along the road. Bellagio is a delightful walking village and there are some nice excursions that can be taken on boats to nearby towns and islands. For us, Italy is a favorite destination and there is much to love about each and every region. However, I still belive that the best parts of Italy can only be experienced with a rental car.

 

Hank

[skyboy]

Anybody have any hotel suggestions for the Tuscany area?

[notmartha]

Sorry if I point out the obvious, but you may have better luck finding hotel rankings and recommendations if you check tripadvisor instead.

 

On driving - you may be better off taking a train from Venice to Florence or thereabouts, and then rent a car. Maybe the locals can comment more? Car rental can be expensive there, if you don't know how to drive stickshift. Plus you have to add in the cost of the insurance (just found out our car insurance only covers US, Canada and Mexico rentals) and petrol.

 

We were shocked when the total bill for a 2 week car rental in Venice was like $800+.

[Hlitner]

Skyboy, The "Tuscany Area" covers a lot of ground. I can recommend some hotels/inns, but it would depend on what location and price range. As an example, if you want to stay in Florence, and you have a car, I would recommend the Hotel David which has decent rates, free parking, and is in a good location to be accessed by a car. On the other hand, if you were going to Florence by train I would tend to look at some of the smaller hotels and B&Bs located within walking distance of the train station.

 

Hank

[skyboy]

Thanks for your responses. Right now we are planning to rent a car in Venice and drive to the Tuscany area. One of the posts said it was an easy drive. We would like to base ourselves in a central area. We are looking for a 3-4 star hotel around $200 with pretty views. We have 4 nights so does it make sense to stay 2 nights in one area of Tuscany and 2 in another part of Tuscany?? Thanks for all your help.

[andydee]

Hi,

We stayed in Siena and San Gimignano during a land holiday a few years back and explored Tuscany from there. In San Gimignano, we stayed at Bel Soggiorno which had lovely views of the Tuscan countryside and a good restaurant too. It also is very close to the main gate which is very helpful as you can't take your car inside the walls. In Siena, we stayed at a cheaper hotel, the Hotel Piccolo Etruria. To get countryside views in Siena, you would need to stay a long way from the city center. The attraction this basic hotel held for us was that it was only one block away from Piazza Del Campo. Parking is an issue in both places; you have to park outside the city walls but San G. is a small place and even Siena is not that bad a walk. We chose to use bus and trains to get around and it worked out well for us. If you choose to use public transport to San G., you can either catch a bus there or take a train to Poggibonnsi and then take the short bus ride from there. To Siena, I would suggest the bus as the train station is a lot farther from the city center. Next time though, we will rent a car unless we stay in Florence. We had no problems getting to Florence by public transport. We loved both San G. and Siena. They have a different feel and architecture. After our holiday was over, we wished we had stayed more than three days in San G. The suggestion above to check out the trip advisor website for accomodation is an excellent one. Hope that helps. Florence is the place to fly back home from and the airport is not hard to get to.

Cheers,

Andy

[Hlitner]

Like Andy, we have often stayed in the San Gimignano area (we stay 3 miles outside at the lovely Villa San Paolo) and have also stayed in Florence, Siena, Assisi, and a few other places. Its hard to go wrong anywhere, and it comes down to choices and whether you want to be in a larger city (Florence or Siena) or more in the countryside. As to the drive, it is pretty easy and I will tell you about another option...in case you might be opera lovers. Your drive will take you near Verona, which is actually a pretty nice town in its own right. During the summer months, they have an Opera Festival where they perform world-class operas outdoors in the very large Roman Amphitheater. This is actually the largest opera venue in the world and its very famous. Tickets need to be purchased months in advance . If you have any interest you can check it out on their web site at http://www.arena.it/eng/arenaeng.urd/portal.show?c=83

This is a very special place since the Arena is still intact from the Roman times and is actually located in the center of town near lots of cafes, restaurants and the main shopping area. The operas are performed on a huge outdoor stage with a full symphony orchestra. Regarding the driving time you can make it to San Gimignano in about 4 - 4 1/2 hours...but a lot depends on how fast you drive. Much of the drive is on a main highway A13 where some crazy Italians (and me) will often drive about 80 - 90 MPH (nobody seems to get speeding tickets as long as they drive sanely). If you were to go to Verona, it would be a slight detour and you would probably want to spend one night in or near Verona.

 

 

Hank